NBA Players To Go Head-to-Head in 2k Tournament on ESPN

They will be mic'd up as well.

While the NBA is on hold until mid-to-late June at the very earliest a lot of people are left with a lot of extra time on their hands; namely athletes and sports fans across the globe. As a result of this the NBA and National Basketball Players Association have created a tournament that will take place starting this Friday where NBA players will participate in an NBA 2k tournament in front of the world.

ESPN will be airing the tournament on TV and it will feature 16 players over a 10-day period. The players include the following: Kevin Durant, Trae Young, Hassan Whiteside, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Andre Drummond, Zach LaVine, Montrezl Harrell, Derrick Jones Jr., Harrison Barnes, Patrick Beverley, Rui Hachimura, Michael Porter Jr., DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Ayton, and Domantas Sabonis.

The matchups will be as follows: Durant (1) vs. Jones Jr. (16), Young (2) vs. Barnes (15), Whiteside (3) vs. Beverley (14), Mitchell (4) vs. Hachimura (13), Booker (5) vs. Porter Jr. (12), Drummond (6) vs. Cousins (11) LaVine (7) vs. Ayton (10) and Harrell (8) vs. Sabonis (9).

Lastly, if you’re wondering the players’ matchups were based off of their 2k ratings. Needless to say this is all for fun as the NBA world is on hold and there is no concrete prize on the line here. However, as you know some players feel like their 2k rating should be better than it is so you can expect them to play (using their thumbs) with a chip on their shoulder. An added benefit to this competition is that you will be able to watch players in real time as they play each other, likely including trash talk. That’s something we don’t even hear when players are mic’d up during the national TV games, unless an on court microphone happens to pick it up (eg. Russell Westbrook celebrating after an and one or Carmelo Anthony making sure his teammates get out of the way when he wants a rebound).

This should certainly be exciting as NBA fans (and probably most sports fans) around the world are hungry for any and all competition between known sports figures in the midst of this global pandemic we’re in known as COVID-19.